Jim Donaldson: It’s high time for Buchholz to pitch in

ST. LOUIS — Clay Buchholz will start Game Four for the Red Sox, even though he says he’s “not a hundred percent.”So, we know how he feels.But how do you feel about him getting the ball against the Cardinals...

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Posted Oct. 26, 2013 @ 8:15 pm

ST. LOUIS — Clay Buchholz will start Game Four for the Red Sox, even though he says he’s “not a hundred percent.”

So, we know how he feels.

But how do you feel about him getting the ball against the Cardinals in the World Series?

Are you 100-percent sure you want him on the mound?

If he were the Clay Buchholz of April and May, the Clay Buchholz who started the season 9-0, the answer to that question is a no-brainer — there’s nobody a Red Sox fan would rather have on the hill in a big game than that guy.

Unfortunately, the Clay Buchholz who’ll pitch in the Fall Classic is not the Clay Buchholz who dominated hitters in the spring.

This is a different Clay Buchholz.

One who has been bothered by a shoulder problem since late May, when he began experiencing soreness in his AC joint.

That’s the acromioclavicular joint, in case you’ve forgotten from anatomy class, and it’s the one that enables you to lift your arm above your head.

The injury kept Buchholz from pitching for three months, from June 8 until Sept. 10.

Which, to some frustrated Red Sox fans, seemed like he might be erring on the side of caution.

That he might have been just a little too tentative about pitching through some discomfort.

That, to put it politely, he wasn’t the sort of guy who’d, let’s say, lace up skates for the Bruins. Not like, for example, Patrice Bergeron, who played in Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals with a broken rib, torn cartilage in his rib cage, a separated right shoulder and a collapsed lung that put him in the hospital after the season-ending loss to the Blackhawks.

Admittedly, that’s not an entirely fair comparison.

So let’s put it another way — you think Sandy Koufax ever pitched with a sore elbow?

There are some guys who, once they’re on the mound, a manager has to pry the ball out of their hand practically by force.

Jake Peavy, who started Game Three for the Sox Saturday night, is one of those guys.

With Buchholz, you get the feeling he’s taking the mound for Game Four because he feels it’s what’s expected of him, not because it would take wild horses to keep him out of the game.

He did, at least, say the right things when he met with the media Saturday afternoon before Game Three.

He said he would “go out there for as long as John (Farrell, the Red Sox manager) wants to leave me out there, and give the team a chance to win to the best of my ability.”

He also pointed out that he was not at his best.

“Obviously, not a hundred percent,” he said. “But I’ve said it a couple of times, I don’t think anybody, especially at this time of the season, is a hundred percent.”

The real question is not whether Buchholz is 100 percent physically. We know he’s not.

“It’s going to be my first World Series,” he said, “and I think that just the environment — the crowd, the adrenaline — that’s going to help me out.”

Buchholz, who was 3-1 in September, with a 1.88 ERA for the month, hasn’t been as effective in the postseason.

He’s started three games and has yet to get a decision. He was hit hard by the Tigers in Game Two of the ALCS at Fenway, giving up five runs on eight hits, including two homers, in 52/3 innings.

He left that game with Boston trailing, 5-0, although the Sox came back to win, 6-5, after David Ortiz tied the score with a grand slam in the eighth.

Although he fared better in Game Six against Detroit, he didn’t get anybody out in the sixth, when he was tagged for two runs that put the Tigers on top, 2-1, in a game the Sox rallied to win on Shane Victorino’s grand slam in the seventh.

Buchholz would like to go longer against the Cardinals, but says he won’t hesitate to let Farrell know exactly how he feels.

“There’s not a whole lot of discomfort,” Buchholz said. “The ball is not really coming out of my hand like it did at the beginning of the season. I think that’s true for the majority of the guys that have been pitching all year.

“At this level, especially on this stage, it’s tough to take yourself out of a game. But, with this scenario, I’m going to tell them the truth. It’s not going to be one of those times where you might be feeling tired, but still telling everybody that you’re good to go.

“I’m going to compete and give my team the best chance of winning that I can, and if something does come up that I’m feeling a little run down, then, yeah, that’s something I’ll let them know.”